Friday, August 29, 2014

Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 10:14 AM

1. In a surprise development, the state Assembly approved legislation that would ban single-use plastic bags in California and the bill is expected to be approved by the state Senate and by Governor Jerry Brown, the Mercury News$ reports. The plastic bag industry had spent huge sums on lobbying against the bill, but Assembly members who had previously voted against the bag ban reversed their positions after talking to environmentalists about the benefits of it.

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2. The US Environmental Protection Agency delivered a substantial blow to Governor Brown’s controversial plan to build two giant water tunnels underneath the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin River, saying the project would violate federal law, the SacBee$ reports. The EPA said the tunnels would siphon off too much freshwater, thereby making the delta too salty for many fish species. The EPA’s conclusion mirrors reports on the tunnels plan from environmental groups. Earlier this week, the Brown administration said it was delaying the tunnels project in order to further study its environmental impacts.

3. The US Bureau of Land Management has concluded that fracking in California is safe for the environment, and has decided to reissue leases to oil companies to frack on federal land, the LA Times$ reports. But environmental groups are challenging the bureau’s conclusions, pointing out that they were based on partial data, because oil companies refuse to disclose exactly what chemicals they use in fracking.